Awkward Encounters
by greypolkadots
Summary: A one-shot from The Losing Team 'verse. Alex and Arizona's life together is going well when case brings Izzie back to Seattle Grace-Mercy West where she finds out just what Alex has been up to since she last saw him.


A/N: Fulfilling a request for a The Losing Team one-shot about Izzie finding out about Alex and Arizona. I wanted to get this written and out as Thursday's finale threatens to kill my desire to write. Let me know if there are any other one-shot ideas out there. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Grey's Anatomy and its characters are owned by ABC and not me.

**...**

Arizona let herself relax in her plus office chair as she brought her mug of coffee up to her mouth. It wasn't the double shot latte that she wanted but it would do. It had been so long since she had had more than just a daily cup of coffee that she was starting to forget how nice a caffeine buzz could be. From her spot behind her desk Arizona could just start to make out the glimmer of sun through the grey haze and clouds. While the calendar was nearing May, the weather was still pretending to be stuck in the winter. It had been a long winter and Arizona was ready for warmer temperatures and sunshine. Not only could she use an improvement in the weather but in her opinion, so could the rest of Seattle. People's moods tended to mimic the weather and Arizona was sick of dreary people. Arizona had been on track to get more than five uninterrupted hours of sleep in months when she was paged into work early to help placate a father that was being difficult for one of her residents. She was ripped out of her nice, warm and comfortable bed all because a grown man was angry that his daughter had overdosed on drugs and was stuck in the hospital on a psych hold. After finally calming the man down, her day didn't improve any. By seven in the morning she had already dealt with more stupidity than she could handle and she needed a break. She shouldn't have even been at work yet and she was already more than ready to go home.

After retreating to her office, Arizona hoped for just one hour of peace and quiet to work on paperwork and gear up to start the rest of her day. Twenty minutes into her hour of working on supply orders her secretary buzzed through the intercom that she had an incoming call from the obstetrics department at Providence Centralia Hospital. Since Seattle Grace-Mercy West had the best NICU and pediatric surgical staff in the state of Washington, Arizona was used to smaller hospitals in the state calling her as they sought better care for their patients; and the doctor on the other end of the phone was wanting just that. After a brief conversation, Arizona Robbins sighed as she hung up the phone. She sank deeper into her plush office chair as she tried to process the conversation that she had just finished. She didn't recognize the voice on the phone. She didn't even put it together when the doctor introduced herself as Dr. Stevens an OB/GYN and neonatologist. It wasn't until Arizona had arranged for the doctor to bring her patient to Seattle Grace-Mercy West that the voice on the line asked if a Dr. Karev was still working there. Once Arizona heard her husband's name mentioned, it all clicked into place. Dr. Stevens from Providence Centralia was Dr. Izzie Stevens - her husband's ex-wife. Arizona sighed as she glanced at her watch; her already crappy day wasn't going to get any better.

While she wasn't in a stellar mood it couldn't help but improve as she walked into the hospital daycare and saw her husband standing at the check-in counter. By the time she was grabbing the baby out of the car seat, the frown on her face had disappeared and was replaced with a bright smile.

"Hey," Alex grunted to his wife as he watched her unlatch the baby from his harness.

"Morning," Arizona replied as she nuzzled her son's nose with her own.

Once she had sufficiently covered the baby's face with kisses she looked up to her husband who was waiting next to her after having signed both of their children into childcare for the day. He looked just as tired as she felt as he rested against the counter. It had been a rough transition for both of them when their second son was born. Taking care of a toddler who never seemed to be tired and a newborn wasn't easy, especially getting them both ready for the day without an extra pair of helping hands.

"You need coffee," Arizona said as she noticed Alex yawn. Intent to wake him up somehow, Arizona leaned up to steal a kiss from his lips.

"I could just get it second hand from you," Alex murmured against her lips as he tried to turn the kiss into something a little less chaste.

"Where is Emmett?" she asked as pulled out of the kiss and stopped it from getting too passionate for the daycare. Arizona looked around the daycare, trying to spot the familiar mop of what was now dirty blonde hair. Emmett had never been a fan of daycare so it was odd to not see him attached to his father's leg trying to avoid having to go in.

Alex pointed toward the toddler room where Arizona could see Emmett playing blocks with another familiar face. "We walked in with Callie, Mark and Olivia."

"Ahh," Arizona nodded in understanding. Ever since Olivia Sloan-Torres had been moved up from the infant room to the toddler room the two had become inseparable. The little girl was the only reason why Emmett stopped pitching a tantrum daily about going to daycare. If he had seen Olivia was already there for the day, getting Emmett into daycare was a much easier job. The Torres charm couldn't be escaped, even by their thirty-month-old son.

"How was your morning?" Alex asked as he held the door open to the infant room for Arizona who was still fussing over their youngest child.

Arizona groaned as she walked toward the cribs, "I should have made you come in instead."

"That bad?"

Arizona nodded and leaned down for one more kiss from her precious baby before placing him gently in the crib. The baby immediately stretched out in the crib and started reaching out and whimpering for his parents who were hovering over the crib. "Graham, you be good for Miss Pam today. I'll see you for lunch."

Arizona watched as Alex leaned down and said his own goodbyes to the fifteen-week-old. "Why don't you go grab a coffee while I go say good morning to Mett? Meet me in my office? We've got a case coming in today that I need to talk to you about."

"Sounds good," Alex said as he leaned in for a departing kiss from his wife. "I'll see you in a few."

After spending a few minutes helping her son and his best friend build a fort out of foam bricks, Arizona left her oldest with a kiss on the top of his unruly hair as she headed back up to her office. As much as she wanted to avoid her earlier phone call, she couldn't. In less than three hours, Izzie was going to be back at Seattle Grace-Mercy West and Alex deserved to know.

**...**

"Izzie? You're sure?" Alex asked as he paced around Arizona's office.

Arizona sat on the couch while she watched her husband freak out about his ex-wife's arrival. She wasn't worried that he was upset that she was coming to Seattle. If Arizona didn't work with Callie on a daily basis, she would probably freak out too if she find out that an ex was suddenly going to appear at her workplace.

"You're really sure it's her?" Alex asked again. "Stevens is a popular last name."

Arizona rolled her eyes, "How many female neonatal specialists can there be with that last name? And isn't she from Chehalis? That is right by Centralia. And she specifically asked if Dr. Karev was still working here."

Alex huffed as he realized that Arizona was right. There was no way that this Dr. Stevens wasn't the woman to whom he used to be married. The last time he had seen his ex he was telling her to destroy her only hope of becoming a mother which was news that she did not take well. Even though it had been over two and a half years since that day, he was sure that Izzie was still probably upset with him and she wasn't going to make this visit easy on him.

Arizona could read her husband like a book and she could tell that he was worried about dealing with Izzie while she was at the hospital.

"Look, you can probably escape even having to see her. She should be here two days max," Arizona latched onto Alex's hand as he walked by her, pulling him to a stop. "You can take a couple of sick days and hang out at home with the boys. Or leave Graham here and just take Mett. I know Emmett would love some quality one-on-one time with Daddy."

"No," Alex shook his head. "I'm not going to run away from her. We've been divorced for a long time now. If she's still holding a grudge against me for things then that's her problem. In fact, I want to take the case with her."

Arizona raised her eyebrows at her husband. She was surprised that the man that had been pacing at the thought of his ex-wife being in the hospital was now volunteering to work with her. "Really?"

"That way if she wants to make a scene maybe she'll do it in the OR and not in the cafeteria in front of everyone."

"You really think she's going to make a scene?" Arizona frowned.

Alex sighed, "When she finds out about us... yes. Especially when she finds out about Emmett and Graham. She's going to be pissed when she finds out that I have kids after I told her that I didn't want to be the father of her kids."

Arizona tried to talk Alex out of working with his ex-wife but it didn't work. It wasn't that Arizona was jealous of Izzie or paranoid of what might happen between the two - Arizona was just looking out for her husband's best interests. Izzie had already hurt Alex enough and Arizona didn't want to give her any chance to do it again. While Arizona might not have been able to stop Alex from taking the case, she could make sure that she was working with them as well. During her relationship with Callie, Arizona had heard how much of a bitch Izzie could be and she hoped that if she was around, Izzie might behave. She assumed that Izzie would be too embarrassed to attempt to pick a fight with Alex in front of a department head. Arizona figured she could be the buffer to keep the situation civil.

**...**

Arizona's plan worked.

Izzie arrived shortly before lunchtime with her patient and was on her best behavior. The patient was a thirty-seven year old female who was thirty-one weeks pregnant. At a routine check-up at twenty-six weeks, the patient's obstetrician noticed signs of preeclampsia and sent her to the nearest hospital for a more through workup. Izzie, who had only recently moved back to Washington and taken a job in Centralia as a high risk obstetrician and neonatal surgeon, confirmed that the patient was preeclamptic. Izzie assumed the patient's care for the duration of the pregnancy. At the patient's routine thirty-one week check-up, Izzie made the decision that the baby needed to be born soon. The mother was exhibiting more severe symptoms and was at a high risk for stroke. For the best interest of the baby and the mother, the baby needed to be born immediately. Due to prematurity, the baby would need to be taken to a NICU as soon as he was born. Centralia was a small farming town in the south of the state so Izzie knew that they would have to get to Seattle to deliver the baby; Seattle Grace-Mercy West had the best NICU in the state and even though Izzie's history with the hospital wasn't steller it was where the baby deserved to be born so that he was given the best care possible.

As soon as they arrived, the mother was admitted and started on pitocin to induce labor. As long as the mother was monitored closely she wanted to try to give birth vaginally and not via c-section. Outside of the initial greetings, Izzie had been so busy monitoring the labor progression to even pay any attention to Alex or Arizona. And since Alex and Arizona weren't obstetricians there was no reason for them to be around until the patient was ready to deliver. The pediatric surgeons took their leave after introducing themselves and briefing the mother about what would happen once the baby was born. Alex felt relief wash over himself as soon as they closed the door behind them and made their way to the elevator. He had gotten through the first meeting in years without any incident. Alex and Arizona took advantage of the free time and headed toward the daycare to spend their lunchtime with their kids.

They weren't paged by Izzie until a few hours later. Alex and Arizona arrived just as Izzie had the patient starting to push. Arizona felt sympathetic pains as she watched the mother working through contractions. It had been less than four months since she gave birth to Graham and she was instantly taken back to her own labor. Before she had Emmett people always told her that the pain of labor was immediately forgotten once the baby was in their arms. Arizona found that that wasn't true at all. She could almost feel the pain of the contractions herself as she watched the patient go through them. The feeling of having her babies in her arms after birth was unexplainable happiness but that didn't negate the hours of painful labor that she went through to birth them. Arizona had to work hard to hide the pain on her face as she waited for the baby to be born so that she could do her job.

After a half hour of pushing, a very soft cry filled the room. Izzie handed the baby to Alex. The baby didn't appear to be in any immediate distress so Alex decided they had time to show the proud parents their son for a brief moment before he and Arizona took him to the NICU.

An hour later Arizona returned to the patient's room where she found Izzie chatting with the family. Everyone looked up when she walked into the room. The parents hadn't heard anything about the status of their baby since he was born so they were anxious to hear about his status.

"He's doing really well," Arizona said as soon she walked in. She could see the parents were worried and wanted to put their fears at ease as quickly as she could. "His lungs are pretty good for a thirty-one weeker but we do have him on thirty-percent oxygen to help him out. We also have him on a nasal gastric tube for feeding."

"Is he going to be okay?" the husband asked from his wife's side.

Arizona smiled at him, "Everything looks very good so far."

"And you're taking good care of him?" the husband continued to question the pediatric surgeon.

"Dr. Robbins is the best," Izzie butted into the conversation. "She and Dr. Karev are the very best doctors you want for your son."

Arizona was a bit taken aback by Izzie defending her to the patient but then she remembered that Izzie didn't know that Arizona was her ex-husband's wife so she had no reason to be bitter toward her.

"We're taking very good care of him," Arizona reassured the parents.

"Do you have any kids, Dr. Robbins?" The mother was still worried about her son. She wasn't allowed to go to the NICU for another few hours and she needed to know that her son was being taken care of like she would take care of him.

Arizona smiled as she thought about her own babies, "I have two boys."

"You'll take care of my baby like you would if he were one of your own sons, right?"

Arizona gave the mother a small smile. She couldn't imagine what the woman was going through at the moment. She had taken care of so many premature babies in her career but she had two perfectly healthy babies herself. The least she could do for the woman was assure her that she would take care of her son. Arizona always gave her best to the kids she treated. She knew that if the situation was ever reversed she would want her children's doctors to do the same for her. "I will. Does he have a name yet?"

"Joesph," the dad smiled. "Joey. After my father."

"That's a great name," Arizona said as she pulled a chair up next to the bed. "Now let me go over what you two can expect over the next hours, days and weeks and then we can get you two into see Joey."

Arizona spent the next half hour detailing what the typical first few days were like for preemies in the NICU. Their baby would be monitored closely around the clock. She informed them that there would probably be bumps along the road but that as long as Joey continued to work hard he would probably be home within a month's time.

By the time Izzie was done helping the parents visit with Joey it was past dinner time. It was the first time since Izzie arrived that she had time to relax. She had been anxious about seeing Alex again but the fast pace of the day didn't allow her anytime to worry about him. When they were together working with the patient and the baby, their interactions were solely about work. It had been years and she was even in a very serious relationship that she felt was going to lead to marriage but she couldn't help but feel the spark every time she was in a room with Alex. She noticed that he was cold and distant toward her but since their last contact was through their lawyers as she was fighting him about destroying their embryos, she didn't expect a warm welcome. Knowing that she was going to be in Seattle for at least another day, Izzie wanted to clear the air with her ex.

"Is Dr. Karev around?" Izzie asked at the main nurses station on the pediatric surgery floor.

The nurse glanced at her watch and noted that it was six in the evening. "He's probably gone by now. He doesn't work past five-thirty unless he's on call, which he isn't."

Izzie thanked the nurse politely and then went in search of someone that might be able to give her more information. She needed to find someone that she actually knew.

"Look who it is," Cristina snorted as Izzie walked into the lounge. "I heard you were around here today."

"Hi Cristina," Izzie greeted as she took a seat next to her on the couch.

"So you're working in Centralia now? That's a total downgrade from Portland," Cristina said honestly.

Izzie rolled her eyes. Nothing but being the best would ever be good enough for Cristina and working at a small town hospital was not prestigious enough for Cristina Yang. "My mom got cancer and I wanted to be close to home."

"Shit," Cristina's sarcastic tone immediately dropped. Unlike what most people thought, Cristina did actually have a heart. "I'm sorry. She okay?"

"She should be."

"Good."

Silence filled the air as the two once friends struggled to find something to talk about. It had been over five years since they worked together and they were never the closest pair of the group.

Cristina was about to ask about the weather just as a way to end the uncomfortable silence when Izzie spoke first.

"So, what's up with Alex? I tried to find him and the nurse said he'd already gone home for the day. Since when does Alex leave early?" Izzie asked trying to find out more information about her ex-husband.

Cristina didn't know what to say. It wasn't her place to tell Izzie about her ex. She settled for stating the obvious. "We're not interns anymore. He's earned not working eighty hour weeks. But trust me if he gets word of a cool surgery in peds, Karev will fight Robbins for it."

Izzie sighed and realized that Cristina was right. She would have to hope to get some time with him the next day before she went back home. After a few more minutes of making polite small talk with Cristina, Izzie excused herself to check up on her patient one last time before going to a hotel for the night.

**...**

"He's got a murmur," Alex told Arizona as he listened to Joey's chest the next morning.

Arizona pulled out her own stethoscope to hear for herself. "Let's get an ultrasound to see what's going on. It's probably a PDA."

Tests confirmed that Arizona's suspicions were correct. Baby Joey needed surgery to close the PDA. It was a routine surgery in premature babies but Arizona knew that no surgery was ever routine for the parents of the babies.

The parents could tell that something was wrong as soon as Alex and Arizona walked into the room.

"This morning Dr. Karev noticed a heart murmur when he was doing a checkup on Joey," Arizona explained as she took a seat next to the patient's bed. "Further testing shows that Joey has a PDA that needs surgery to close."

"A PDA is a small blood vessel in the heart that allows blood to bypass the lungs while in-utero," Alex spoke up to help explain what was going on. "Once the umbilical cord is cut, the duct typically closes on its own. But in preemies, that often doesn't happen so we go in and close it."

The mother asked as her eyes filled with tears as she listened to doctors she didn't know tell her that her son needed heart surgery. "But you can fix it?"

"We can," Arizona said confidently. "With your permission, Dr. Karev can go in and fix it later today."

The parents took a moment to think it over. They both knew that they didn't really have any other choice. If two pediatric surgeons were telling them that their son needed heart surgery he was going to have it. They just needed a moment to wrap their brains around the idea.

After a few minutes of quiet whispers to each other, the parents looked up at the doctors. "We just have one request."

"Okay...," Arizona said waiting to see what they wanted.

The parents glanced at each other once more before continuing, "Can Dr. Stevens be in the OR?" When the mother noticed the skeptical look on Arizona's face she continued to plead with the surgeon, "It's just that we know her. She's been with us through all of this. I'm sure you are a great doctor, Dr. Karev, but we would feel more comfortable if Dr. Stevens was there as well."

Arizona looked at Alex who shrugged in response. "Of course." Their request was simple enough that it could be granted and if it made the parents more comfortable, Arizona was all for it.

"I'll be back in a bit with some paperwork and to explain everything more in-depth," Alex told the family before leading himself and Arizona out of the room.

**...**

"So this should be fun," Izzie said with a perky tone as she entered the scrub room where Alex was standing and talking to his resident.

Alex grunted and finished speaking to his resident before turning back to find Izzie staring at him as she scrubbed in for surgery. He walked up to the sink next to her and grabbed a sponge package.

"It's just like old times. You and me in surgery together," Izzie continued to try to engage Alex in conversation.

"Yeah," Alex agreed as he realized that he still had his wedding ring on. He would need to take it off for surgery. He would need to take it off in front of Izzie. He really didn't want to deal with a whole surgery with Izzie harassing him about being married. Alex decided that he would try to distract her. "So Centralia?"

"Yeah. I wanted to be closer to home."

"How is it?" Alex asked hoping to get her talking.

Izzie looked back at her fingers and started scrubbing her left arm. "It's good. Not as exciting as a major city but I like it. I get to basically run the whole department which is pretty cool for being so young."

Alex decided to try and slip off his ring while Izzie was talking about her new job. It didn't work.

"Is that a wedding ring?" Izzie's tone rose as she looked at Alex whose right hand was pulling off his wedding ring.

Alex finished taking the platinum band off and tied it to his scrub pants. "Yeah," he answered as he opened his sponge and started scrubbing his arms.

"Oh," Izzie said quietly. She knew it had to be a wedding ring but she was still shocked when Alex confirmed it. The perkiness in her tone was gone. "That's uh...nice."

Alex grunted and continued to scrub his hands.

Izzie needed even more information. "So who is she? Anyone I know?"

Alex sighed and rinsed the soap off of his arms, "Look Izzie. In case you don't remember - you left me. We're been divorced for like five years now. Why does it matter who I'm married to now?"

Izzie was startled by Alex's firm tone. "I... uh... I guess it doesn't."

Alex pushed the door to the OR open with his back, "Can we just do this surgery then you can go back to Centralia? You're good at leaving. You should know how to do that." Alex knew that was a low blow but he hoped that it would get Izzie to leave him alone about his personal life.

Izzie followed Alex into the OR and let the nurses get her ready for surgery.

The pair remained quiet for the beginning of the surgery. Izzie was using the time to stew over Alex's comments. Finally she couldn't take it any longer. "So I left," Izzie broke the silence of the room. "But I came back."

"Too late," Alex snarked as he directed his resident to suction some blood away from where he was working.

Izzie sighed. She wasn't getting anywhere with Alex. She decided to try sincerity. "I'm sorry."

Alex glanced up from the chest cavity to make eye contact with Izzie, "Okay. But that doesn't change anything. We're divorced. I'm married to someone else. I don't know what you want from me here?"

Truthfully even Izzie didn't know what she wanted. She was happy in her current relationship. She didn't want Alex back. Or at least she didn't think she did. It just hurt to see him married again. When they said 'I do' they were supposed to be together forever and now Alex had pledged forever to someone else.

"Nothing," Izzie said sadly. "I don't want anything."

The rest of the surgery went perfectly. Alex and Izzie worked together well and kept the conversation strictly about what they were doing in the operating room. After they scrubbed out, they were able to give the parents a glowing report about the surgery.

After informing the parents about the successful surgery, Alex seemed to disappear. Izzie didn't see him in the cafeteria for lunch or in the NICU when she went to check up on Joey. Izzie figured it was probably for the best. She was going to head back to Centralia at the end of the day and they really didn't have anything left to say to each other.

**...**

Arizona was busy entertaining the kids in her office while they waited on Alex to finish for the day so that they could go home when she heard a soft knock on the door.

"Come in," Arizona called out from her spot on the floor of her office. She figured it was a resident bringing her the case files she would need to review for the next day.

Izzie was surprised by what she saw when she entered the office. Arizona was sitting cross-legged on the floor with an infant in her arms while a toddler sat across from her. The little boy was smashing two wooden blocks together while Arizona worked on helping him build a tower out of them.

"Oh sorry," Izzie instinctively said as she realized that she was interrupting some family time. "I didn't mean to interrupt..."

"No, come in. What can I do for you Dr. Stevens?" Arizona shushed her as she looked away from the block tower toward the intruder. She didn't really want Izzie to meet her children but there was no way of getting out of it now that she was already there.

"I just wanted to say thank you. For all of your help with Joey and his parents."

Arizona waved her hand in the air as she stood up off of the ground, shifting Graham in her arms as he fussed at the change in position, "It's no problem. Just doing my job."

"You didn't have to be so kind while I was here. You didn't have to let me in on the PDA."

"Mommy! Look!" Emmett exclaimed and waved his arms at her when he realized he no longer had his mother's attention.

Arizona turned to glare at her son, "Emmett, you know better than to interrupt when Mommy is talking to an adult."

Emmett dropped his shoulders and looked up at his mother with sad eyes, "Sorry, Mommy."

Arizona smiled at him to let him know that she wasn't upset with him before turning her attention back to Izzie. "Sorry about that. We're working on manners right now."

Izzie laughed it off, "Don't worry about it. He's adorable. How old is he?"

"Two and a half." Arizona then looked down at the baby boy in her arms who was gnawing on his fist, "And this little nugget is fifteen weeks."

"They're beautiful," Izzie said honestly.

Emmett looked up from his blocks at the stranger. "No, han-some," he protested at being called beautiful.

Arizona's mouth opened in shock. "Emmett Timothy!" she scolded him.

Izzie just laughed at the boy's antics. She thought it was cute that the toddler knew that boys were typically called handsome and not beautiful. Just as Arizona was about to apologize on Emmett's behalf again the door to her office opened and Alex walked in.

"Hey! Are we all ready to go home?" Alex said as he typed a message out on his phone without realizing that his wife and children weren't alone in the office.

Emmett immediately jumped up off the ground, knocking over the tower he and his mother had been building, and ran into his father's arms. Alex instinctively lifted the little boy up and perched him on his hip as he squeezed him tight and gave him a kiss on the side of the head.

"Daddy says handsome. No beautiful. Right, Daddy?" Emmett's blue eyes pleaded with his father to agree with him.

Alex couldn't say anything as he looked up from his son to see who he son was talking to and saw his ex-wife staring at him with a shocked look on her face.. All Alex could do was stare back at Izzie. His mouth opened to say something but no words came out.

"Daddy?" Emmett tugged on Alex's shirt collar as he tried to get his father's attention away from the strange lady in the room.

Emmett's voice broke Alex's trance and Alex looked at his son and smiled as he kissed his forehead, "Yes. You are very handsome, Bear."

None of the adults in the room knew what to say. Arizona couldn't keep her eyes from darting between her husband and his ex. Izzie didn't know who to look at. If she looked at Alex she saw his son in his arms and that broke her heart. If she looked at Arizona she saw another baby that had to be Alex's as well. Alex kept looking at Arizona in hopes that she would know what to do in this situation.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Emmett helped them out.

"I hungry, Mommy. Go home?"

Arizona stopped looking at Alex and Izzie and made eye contact with her son who was bouncing up and down in Alex's arms, emphasizing that he wanted to go. Arizona pointed to the mess on the floor, "You have to clean up first, Mett."

"I... uh... I am going to go," Izzie stuttered as she backed out of the office. "Um. Again, Dr. Robbins, thank you."

As soon as the door closed, Alex's eyes bugged out at Arizona. "What just happened?"

"I don't know," Arizona replied honestly.

Alex ran his hands through his hair as he put Emmett down on the ground and helped him clean up the toys.

"You need to go talk to her," Arizona told him as she wiped drool off of Graham's face.

Alex's head spun around, "What?"

"Everything is out there now. Go talk to her. I'll distract him for a bit longer," Arizona said as she nodded toward Emmett who was making a bigger mess when he was supposed to be picking up.

Alex rolled his eyes at his wife who just stared at him. "Fine," he said when he realized he wasn't going to get out of it.

Arizona sighed as she sank down into the couch. Sometimes she hated being an adult and having to deal with awkward situation. Graham squawked in her arms as he continued to fight to eat his fist. Arizona gently extracted his hand from his mouth and brought it up to kiss it, "Don't ever grow up, bubba."

**...**

Alex didn't have to go far to find Izzie. He knew she couldn't have gotten that far in the three minutes that he stood in Arizona's office trying to figure out what to do. He found her staring at her hands in the lounge nearby. He didn't want to but he knew he had to suck it up and go have one last awkward encounter with his ex-wife.

Izzie didn't look up when she heard the door open and close again. She assumed it had to be Alex.

"So," Alex said as he walked closer to Izzie. He had no clue how she was going to react but he knew it wasn't going to be good.

Izzie continued to stay silent. She refused to acknowledge his presence.

"Say something," Alex prodded as he sat on a chair across the room from her.

Izzie looked up at Alex with hatred in her eyes, "I'm just sitting here doing the math. Robbins told me that the oldest, Emmett - I think she called him, was two and a half. And it was two and a half years ago that you came to me in Portland and told me that you didn't want to be the father of my kids. You didn't even have the courtesy to tell me to destroy the embryos before you knocked Robbins up? Which I don't even want to know how you got the lesbian to have your babies."

"I'm not going to apologize for my sons," Alex said calmly. The one thing that he would never do is apologize for having his children. They were the best things that he had ever done in life.

Izzie rolled her eyes. She didn't follow Alex's calm tone. In fact she was getting down right pissed. "So you get to have kids - your own genetic offspring but you tell me to destroy my chances of having that?"

"No, I didn't do that," Alex continued to remain calm. "I told you that you could still have them but that I would just be the anonymous sperm donor. I didn't force you to destroy the embryos."

"You didn't leave me much choice. And now I don't get the chance to have my own kids while you get the happy family. Perfect wife. Perfect children. You get it all."

"You can still have kids, Iz. There are so many ways to make a family. You of all people know how much adoption can change a kid's life," Alex quietly moved from the chair to the couch as he spoke to his ex.

Izzie took a deep breath and nodded. She did know first hand how much adoption can change the life of a baby. She was able to give her own baby a better life than she was able to provide for her by giving her up for adoption. In fact, Izzie and her boyfriend had spoken at length about adopting. She was fine with adoption. But that didn't mean that it didn't hurt to see Alex with his own children. With a family. Without her.

"So you and Robbins are really married?" Izzie looked at Alex curiously. "I could tell something was going on when I was here after the Africa shooting."

Alex smiled as he played with his wedding ring, "Two and a half years. And yeah the shooting was a turning point for our relationship."

"Oh wow, so right at the same time as the kid."

"Emmett was a bit of a surprise," Alex laughed. Surprise was an understatement. "A good surprise. But we would have gotten married even if he wasn't in the picture."

"He looks like you," Izzie said with only a tinge of sadness in her voice. She had always wondered what those embryos might have looked like if they had been given the chance to turn into babies and seeing Alex's genetic traits in a baby that wasn't with her hurt.

Alex tilted his head and thought aloud, "I'm not sure about that." As Emmett grew into a little boy and away from the baby stage he started looking more and more like his mother. His once dark brown hair had even started to change into a dirty blonde color as he got older.

"He does," Izzie reassured him.

Alex deflected, "He acts like me that's for sure. He has the Karev attitude. He is one hundred percent trouble. Has been since he was born."

"Well, maybe, the little one will be more perky like your wife," Izzie smiled. She couldn't believe that she was talking to Alex about his new wife and his new family. But she was trying to be the bigger person and not let her bitterness about the situation get the best of her.

Alex smiled, "Hopefully." Graham was already a much easier baby than cranky Emmett ever was but he knew the power of the Karev genes was strong and he wasn't sure that the Robbins' happiness genes could overpower them. Egged on by Izzie's niceness toward him, Alex reached out and put his hand on her knee. "There's a great baby waiting out there for you too. Or kick ass donor eggs. Whatever way you go. You'll be a great mom."

Izzie put her hand atop Alex's and squeezed, "Thanks, Alex." Izzie then released his hand and pushed it off of her, "You should get out of here. I'm sure that boy of yours is driving Arizona crazy wanting to get dinner."

Alex stood and gave Izzie a smile, "Yeah, I better. I'm sure I'll be seeing you a lot more now that you're in Centralia."

Izzie stood up after him, "Yeah. We have to come here for anything needing a NICU."

"See you later then," Alex said as he gave Izzie a friendly hug.

Izzie awkwardly patted him on the back, "See you later, Alex."

**...**

When Alex returned to Arizona's office he found Arizona and Emmett snuggled up together on the couch reading a book while Graham was snoozing in his car seat.

Arizona's eyes looked up when she heard the doorknob turn. "Everything okay?" she asked hesitantly as Alex walked into the office. She couldn't tell by his facial expression how his conversation with Izzie had gone. She knew he wouldn't let on how it went in front of his kids

"Everything's good," Alex whispered as he leaned down to press his lips against his wife's. "Ready to go, Bear?" he directed toward his son who looked more than ready to go home.

Emmett nodded his head up and down vigorously as Arizona grabbed her bag. Alex lifted the car seat off the floor and held the door open for his family.

"Can we get pizza, Daddy?" Emmett asked as he walked out past his father.

Arizona reached down and lifted Emmett up onto her hip, "Yeah, Daddy? Can we?"

Even though they tried to eat very healthy with Emmett, Alex couldn't say no to both Arizona and Emmett giving him puppy dog looks. "I think we can do that," he answered as he laced his free hand with Arizona's.

Izzie watched from the other end of the hallway as the Karev family exited Arizona's office and made their way to the elevator at the end of the hallway. While at first she was upset that he had so clearly moved on, seeing him with his family made her realize that it was jealousy that she was feeling. Not jealousy of wanting Alex back but jealousy of wanting what he had. She wanted a family of her own. She wanted a happy family like Alex seemed to have.

While Alex went home to have dinner with his family, Izzie left Seattle ready to make some life changes of her own.

**...**


End file.
